A container such as a PET bottle which is filled with beverages such as soft drinks generally has a cylindrical label mounted thereon. The cylindrical label is often formed of a shrink film on which a brand name, information on the contents of the container, and the like are printed. Such a cylindrical label is generally fitted onto a container sequentially by a label mounting system including a transfer conveyor for transferring a container along a predetermined transfer passage, a label fitting apparatus for fitting an unshrunk cylindrical label onto the container which is being transferred by the transfer conveyor, and a heat shrinking apparatus for heat shrinking the cylindrical label fitted onto the container.
The heat shrinking apparatus installed in such a label mounting system includes a heat treatment chamber which is disposed so as to surround the transfer conveyor that transfers the container having the cylindrical label fitted thereon and a heating unit that heats the cylindrical label fitted on the container passing through the heat treatment chamber by hot air or saturated steam, and is adapted to heat shrink the cylindrical label while the container is passing through the heat treatment chamber.
Patent Document 1: JP 2003-54520 A
Patent Document 2: JP 09-272514 A